This mechanic's top six truck engines - Spoiler: Volvo is not on the list...
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- Опубликовано: 5 сен 2024
- Here's my pick of engines and a brief description of my thoughts on them. Reliability, performance (power and fuel mileage), longevity, and ease of repair are my main criteria. Ideal engine is going to be dictated by the goals of the owner, the job that the truck is doing, and even the geographic area you are in. These are my opinions. I'm sure I could have done an entire video on every engine and then some. But these are my thoughts in a limited format.
In 1981 I bought a new freightliner with a 855 big cam2 cummins. When it was 3yrs old the co. I was hauling for & my account wanted my to upgrade to a new one. About a yr later I stopped getting loads until I upgraded, by that time the freightliner was payed for so I quit. Still got it & still runs good. With no truck payments I only have to work 3months yr. I would never own a electronic diesel with the egr crap
👍👍great list...thank you you for sharing thoughts, knowledge,and videos 👍👊
Great video, I've got a 2012 KW T909 with ISX in Australia and very happy with the Cummins, we never had gliders here so not many options to find trucks with cats that are in good condition.
Love the videos, keep them coming
Appreciate the time and knowledge
On cat e models cat missed the boat on the intake & exhaust ports, cat should of did what 60 series detroit or 1693 cat with parallel ports , i think 1693 had the best port lay out with the exhaust coming out of cylinder head shoting up ward's !!!💥
The n14 is so beloved by drivers but I absolutely hate them things to work on. They kinda give me the vibes of the SDP. The 855’s were fantastic engines for the time and the job at hand. They just didn’t transition well to the electronics age. Much in the way obviously the c15 was amazing for its time but just wasn’t designed to make the leap into the emissions era. Cummins would’ve been better served to start from scratch when designing an electronic engine, much the way cat would’ve been better off starting from scratch on their regen engine.
"Parts are out there readily available" ----- Quality parts; Not so much. You have to tear down, inspect every part you intend to install.
Cummins N14 was ahead of it's time, the 855 was so old by the time it became electronic it should have been replaced three times, if they made it new in 1990 it would be very outdated
love your videos and your knowledge man. subscribed yesterday. keep em coming
Thanks! What do you drive?
@@bigrig_smilespergallon 9900 eagle Cm870, canadian truck
@@3406e IH isn't my brand but that's the I'd be running if I were to buy one. That's a setup we wouldn't tell anyone to shy away from.
@@bigrig_smilespergallon yh its my childhood dream starter truck would love to get a 389 next glider with cat. its kinda optimistic because they sadly stopped making glider and 389s. best bet would probably get one with maxforce around 2019 year and junk it put a 2ws in. i wouldnt mind a 6ts either
@@3406e What you really want is a 379 with the drivetrain that you want. Trust me, it is always cheaper to buy the closest thing to what you want to have rather than buy something 'cheap' and try to make it what you want. Swapping an engine into a truck that's different from what it came from gets pricey so, so quick. I always look for the bones that I want at a reasonable price rather than a price I like for something I want to change.
Thxs 4 sharing
I like the cats too easy to service. The early dohc isx engines I heard are prone to eating up cams which the x15 solved that. The x15 also has bigger fuel filters. Volvos are pretty good too I’ve seen em with high mileage but the auto shift transmissions suck. One time I was working on one in -10 doing tires on it and the transmission would not shift out of neutral until I closed the doors and warmed up the shop.
Also not a fan of paccar engines at all. Hard to work on always problematic. The trucks are awesome
A Volvo D13 Turbo compound is a real beast of an engine. With some basic technical understanding and mechanical know-how it is a money maker for the long run
Volvo's just aren't my type of truck. But if it works for you, that's great. Main thing is that it's making you money.
Volvo bought WHITE trucks and what engines are used there.
@@rvarsigfusson6163 I'm struggling to understand your comment
@@j.m.5995 The truck company White is still making trucks but with what engine in it?
Volvo is the owner of the company producing White trucks.
@@rvarsigfusson6163 Mmkay
I would like to know if you can do the same thing on a 3406b that you did on the emodel for water flow back to five and six liners thank you and your videos are very helpful
Yep. It would be applicable for the mechanical 3406's as well.
@bigrig_smilespergallon
Thanks for the response so that's just gonna make the water flow faster instead of it just hanging back there and getting hotter
@@user-co9jw4gz4y The big important thing is that it's going to help the water circulate around the back two cylinder liners. Without that port, there is little flow and while the coolant helps dissipate heat, it doesn't actively move the heat away from those cylinders.
@bigrig_smilespergallon that sounds good to me trying to make it last for a long time sorry to bother you on a Sunday thanks again for the time and response
The newer the engine the worse they get , if the year model is off by 3 or more years they may look the same but there is difference that prevent you from using parts. Yes on my 5EK cat did the water by pass hose from between the water pump & oil coolet to # 6 cylinder 3/4" hose .
I wonder what this experienced mechanic would make of the old British Gardner engine design that graced trucks, boats and busses for decades
Gotta admit I wasn't familiar with them. Googled them. Looks like they have quite a long history. Pretty cool seeing something with roots that far back.
@@bigrig_smilespergallon Their monoculture, meant that more power was often just answered with more cylinders from 1 (lighthouse generators) to 8 (Shunt Trains ). Reluctance to adopt turbochargers meant that smaller lighter high-revving engines sealed their fate.
@@trevortrevortsr2 Interesting.
Top Chef information, always a pleasure…
Looking to find out where you are located Later on…
I don't really care to say where I am. There's clues. I just ask that when people find out or find a way to reach me, please do it privately. I'm in a small town and most locals don't know I'm here. I'm good with that
@@bigrig_smilespergallon very understandable and I’m the same way…
Will reach out Later Sir…
Truly old school on my end..
@@chasles3519 What do you run?
@@bigrig_smilespergallon
Peterbilt’s and Cat Engines, temporarily semi retired…
No quitting on my part, many miles to go…
Going Custom all the way in one or two of them…
@@chasles3519 You've got good taste. My favorite combination!
when mercedes bought detroit engine from penske in 2002 they took them away from paccar, so you cant get any parts 2002 and later engines, all of us old guys worked on tons of them, i would venture to guess 50 percent of them were detroits over cat and cummins powered. egr is to reduce nox production which is increased when the combustion temps exceed 2600 degrees.
But what about the big cm507 600 sigs.They start to make knock knock jokes around 800k lol. Id go crazy for one of though still love em. I know they liked to spun the crank or cam bearing but man the cm570 and the 2ws both my favourite engines ever.
I've been around a few. Never had any real issues with them but just know that they had a few things that were known potential problems. In my experience, they're not really common, easy-to-find engines. I'd kind of lump them in with the ISX engines- they were the predecessor.
This was amazing, what's the price of a rebuildable C15 engine, I want to put into my old landrover Defender. good Idea are they smoky!!
I like the cats too easy to service. The early dohc isx engines I heard are prone to eating up cams which the x15 solved that. The x15 also has bigger fuel filters. Volvos are pretty good too I’ve seen em with high mileage but the auto shift transmissions suck. One time I was working on one in -10 doing tires on it and when I was done the transmission would not shift into any gear at all until I closed the doors and warmed up the bay
The X15 solved something?? That's laughable. That entire platform has been a POS since it was introduced.
I was wondering where your located? Where I live most people hate ISX. I think part is shops miss diagnosing problems. I have had good and bad issues with ISX, but the same thing with CAT, which is my favourite. Where I live lots of trucks are pulling 139000+ and cold winters. Hard to find good mechanics and drivers that have a mechanical aptitude or don’t drive like gorillas.
I'm in Ohio. You can see in the videos, it's a small shop and we're swamped all the time. So I'm not getting any more specific than that. I just can't handle any more work
Do you like the b model cat ?
🚬 B 👍
In their day, they were definitely one of the kings of the road. And when you got one that's running right, you can't say much bad about them. Even today, they can be a better fit for some applications than more modern engines. Those engines can sit longer without minor issues shutting them back down. They're great for local hauling where fuel mileage doesn't matter so much as reliability. I've seen guys make a living off of them recently but the rest of the truck and business has to be pretty dialed in to make it work best.
Thank you sir
Looking at an old C12 im not a cat fan but i have heard this was an okay engine, not overly powerful but okay fuel mileage all i need is a little more money and it's all mine??? I love old trucks
A C12 is a decent engine. Can't expect much more than 750K out of it before a rebuild. But decent fuel economy and decent power for the size. Better for certain applications than others. But we had one where I used to work that hauled a lot of grain and it did fine.
What about them mack engines, are they bad?
I'm not a fan of them. I know some people are. I haven't had a whole lot of experience working on them. We don't have a good dealer for Mack around here. Parts seem plenty expensive. I just really don't like working on them. But that's my very limited experience.
Fitzgerald is the place to order any Detroit parts, now why is that a good engine in a paccar truck but junk in a Freightliner, i have a 12.7 in my century, it likes me
It's a good engine no matter what it's in. But I do tend to think in terms of Paccar..
PACCAR all the way
I can't get behind their engines. Or their 389 replacement...
Uncle Tony's Garage has a similar philosophy. Older vehicles can be more economical to obtain and refurbish and, if you think about it, easier on the environment. Why? Fewer raw materials because you're simply recycling existing materials while avoiding the cost of sourcing the raw materials needed in making an entirely new product. Only problem with that notion is quality parts availability. I hope that, one day, manufacturers and vendors will step up to the plate and make it easier for us do-it-yourselfers to restore and service the older stuff which (usually) doesn't require a degree in troubleshooting digital circuitry.
100% agree. I'm gonna do a video on this. Think about this: Does anyone really think that anybody is going to be making new electronics in twenty years for the trucks that are being built today? You can not buy even a reman Paccar engine ECM for a 2012 truck. (Or at least a year ago, you couldn't. I assume it's still the same.) Why would anyone bother? These new trucks have too many ecm's and modules. Once a truck has lived past it's designed lifetime, they're gonna stop making the electronics for it. And while we can wire around obsolete electronics in old trucks, you're not gonna be able to afford to on these most modern trucks. You're really winding me up here. lol. Gonna have to put some thoughts together and do that video soon. Also, I don't watch any RUclips really, but my brother has showed me Uncle Tony's Garage. That guy is brilliant and everyone should take a bit of time to let him earn your respect. He knows what he's talking about.
@@bigrig_smilespergallon I was in the electronic repair biz for the better part of 25 years starting in 1980. I know all too well what's going to happen to those electronics and their availability. You are absolutely correct in your assessment.